'25 Recruiting Forum: Official Mississippi State vs Tennessee Pre-game/Game Thread

[Jackcrevol]

Your troll game is weak.

troll? only got to watch snippets of game live (watched on replay) looks like they got two turnovers. Was hoping for a strip sack.

They were better than I gave them credit.

 

[SugarCC]

troll? only got to watch snippets of game live (watched on replay) looks like they got two turnovers. Was hoping for a strip sack.

They were better than I gave them credit.

There was a strip sack...that went for 6.

 

[drvenner]

staley couldn't catch a cold today

Yeah, that critical third down catch he dropped on the TD drive. .. oh, wait

 

[drvenner]

I tend to agree to an extent. Clock management sucked on the final drive. Offensive execution was lacking for a chunk of the game. I don’t even want to talk about the defense.

At the end of the day, though, what does it really matter in the grand scheme of things? Winning by less on the road in SEC play than what perhaps we should have is a whole lot better than the alternative, an alternative we’ve had a ton of experience with in the pre-Heupel days. I like to be thankful for what we have despite its imperfections.

Do you mean the defense that allowed one TD drive longer than 26 yards?

 

[volsagain]

Don’t need to. We had 11 TFLs and 5 sacks.

We have 20 sacks on the year.

Defense was hit or miss. To many missed tackles that really hurt the total look for the defense. Surprised we average 4.4 to there 3.5 I know sacks skewed the numbers but it's part of the whole. We get folks back it will get better. Players out and the refs made things a lot worse than the whole performance.

 

[drvenner]

Lots of debate on social media on whether Banks' defense won the game or could have lost the game in allowing MSU's offense move the ball and score.... with ease at times. How often can a team depend on a pick 6 or a scoop and score to win games? Or should a team rely on a solid defense that can stop drives and force punts?

One TD drive longer than 26 yards. One.

 

[MarcoVol]

One TD drive longer than 26 yards. One.

Yep TD drives of:

- 20 yards
- 26 yards
- 75 yards
- 17 yards

2 defensive TDs. 5 sacks. 11 TFLs.

 

[Orange_Crush]

Announcer is a UT fan. It was a great kick from my perspective.

 

[Orange_Crush]

If you can’t enjoy a win, why watch? We just came out of 40 years wandering in the desert.

Even Moses was dead and buried in a secret tomb.

 

[jmacvols1]

One TD drive longer than 26 yards. One.

No. 15 Tennessee at Mississippi State: Live Score, Big Moments, Scoring Plays | Rocky Top Insider

Check out Rocky Top Insider's game feed from Tennessee-Mississippi State, including the live score, big plays, and much more.

www.rockytopinsider.com

List of MSU scoring drives:

MSU Drive 2: Touchdown Mississippi State – MSU 7, UT 0

• The muffed punt gave State great field position, and an unsportsmanlike penalty from Joshua Josephs didn’t help. Bulldogs run it in from five yards out.
• Fluff Bothwell 5-yard TD run
• 5 plays, 20 yards

MSU Drive 5: Touchdown Mississippi State – MSU 14, UT 10

• Mississippi State takes a long, methodical drive down the field. Converted multiple third downs.
• Booth with the 5-yard TD rush
• 15 plays, 75 yards

MSU Drive 6: MSU Field Goal Good – MSU 17, UT 10

• Mississippi State drills a 50-yard field goal straight down the middle.
• 8 plays, 51 yards

MSU Drive 10: Touchdown Mississippi State – MSU 24, UT 20

• State gets a touchdown off the great field position from the turnover and penalty.
• Bothwell takes it in from one yard out
• 4 plays, 26 yards

MSU Drive 13: Mississippi State Field Goal GOOD – UT 27, MSU 27

• State moves down the field with a massive passing play, but Tennessee’s defense holds them out of the red zone.
• 38-yard field goal is GOOD
  • Impact Play: MSU hits a 49-yard bomb down the field

MSU Drive 14: Touchdown Mississippi State – MSU 34, UT 27

• Mississippi State takes advantage of the great field position and gets the touchdown reception to take the lead.
• This is now three drives that MSU has started inside the UT 30 and have scored touchdowns on all of them
• 5 plays, 17 yards

 

[jmacvols1]

Announcer is a UT fan. It was a great kick from my perspective.

the ref under the upright appears to give a "good" signal, maybe the announcer was watching that ref instead of the ball.

 

[volinbama256]

we didn't even have a run defense yesterday period... my wife kept asking, "why is TN just watching and letting the kid just get the ball and run right around the corner of the line or left around the corner of the line and no one goes after him... He gets like 5-8yds every time!?"

 

[knoxvol52]

 

[Orange_Crush]

Lots of debate on social media on whether Banks' defense won the game or could have lost the game in allowing MSU's offense move the ball and score.... with ease at times. How often can a team depend on a pick 6 or a scoop and score to win games? Or should a team rely on a solid defense that can stop drives and force punts?

Yes. Rely on all of the defensive goodness.

I'd prefer to also rely on not muffing punts. Catching long wide-open passes for TDs. Not throwing high over the middle for tipped interceptions. Not getting called for phantom OPIs that take TDs off the board.

If we stuff them on that opening drive, catch the punt, score. Stop them again. Score... The entire game gets a different perspective, as we start outpacing them and they can't just rely on that running game like they did. If our special teams and offense didn't start so terribly, it probably turns it into a blow-out.

You make points, but the facts are that the entire team was overconfident, hung over from UGA, lackadaisical, and just plain played terribly. There's plenty of praise and blame to go around on both sides. I'm just glad that, if we played an ugly game, we won an ugly game.

Snap, clear. Lessons to learn. Play better every week from here on out. All the goals are still on the table.

 

[Vols4us]

we didn't even have a run defense yesterday period... my wife kept asking, "why is TN just watching and letting the kid just get the ball and run right around the corner of the line or left around the corner of the line and no one goes after him... He gets like 5-8yds every time!?"

They ran a 3 man front with an OLB or CB at DE on one side and Carter at mike for much of the game. No way would anybody be able to stop a run game with that alignment against any SEC team. Sometimes he would even have the secondary in a soft zone when he did it.

It was dumb beyond words and is all on Banks. Every time they went heavier with base 4 nickel they stopped the run. So tired of our DC being an idgit.

 

[ALStateLineVol]

My biggest complaint is we kept it close, so that kept those cowbells going the entire game. I don't pay much attention to MSU, but those things were beyond annoying.

Cut down on mistakes, heal up, and refocus for next stretch.
Regardless, great win!

Go Vols!!

 

[rocktopper16]

Is it me or was that game similar to the ‘22 game against Pitt?

 

[Adam Sandler]

Lots of debate on social media on whether Banks' defense won the game or could have lost the game in allowing MSU's offense move the ball and score.... with ease at times. How often can a team depend on a pick 6 or a scoop and score to win games? Or should a team rely on a solid defense that can stop drives and force punts?

It was a very aggressive defensive calling, not in that we blitzed so often, but that we were playing pass rush almost all of the game. Have edges/de stunt routinely, giving up the edge and letting them run the football off guard/tackle with ease the whole first half. That was driving me insane.

 

[Enki_Amenra]

Where is the bye week thread? @OGbabyaviVol

 

[OGbabyaviVol]

Where is the bye week thread? @OGbabyaviVol

I made it and it was merged with the football talk thread. Not sure why.

 

[Go Fight Win]

Man, what a ballgame. We did everything in our power to give them the win and we still pulled out ahead. Got to feel pretty good about our team after last night. Brutal road environment will prep us for every game going forward. Learn from mistakes get heathy in bye week and move forward.

one of the better sports bars in my neighborhood is an UGA bar…. They were chirping at our table all night…. So we stuck it out and watched their game…. Sweet sweet sweet sweeeeeet evening for us

 

[jmacvols1]

Yes. Rely on all of the defensive goodness.

I'd prefer to also rely on not muffing punts. Catching long wide-open passes for TDs. Not throwing high over the middle for tipped interceptions. Not getting called for phantom OPIs that take TDs off the board.

If we stuff them on that opening drive, catch the punt, score. Stop them again. Score... The entire game gets a different perspective, as we start outpacing them and they can't just rely on that running game like they did. If our special teams and offense didn't start so terribly, it probably turns it into a blow-out.

You make points, but the facts are that the entire team was overconfident, hung over from UGA, lackadaisical, and just plain played terribly. There's plenty of praise and blame to go around on both sides. I'm just glad that, if we played an ugly game, we won an ugly game.

Snap, clear. Lessons to learn. Play better every week from here on out. All the goals are still on the table.

I think TN got the momentum at the beginning by stopping MSU on 3 and punt. I think that muffed punt return took the momentum away and changed the whole game allowing MSU a quick first score.

 

[jmacvols1]

It was a very aggressive defensive calling, not in that we blitzed so often, but that we were playing pass rush almost all of the game. Have edges/de stunt routinely, giving up the edge and letting them run the football off guard/tackle with ease the whole first half. That was driving me insane.

I don't like the consistency in not stopping 3rd and longs or 4th downs. Fast pace offence can wear a defense out and they need to get the defense on and off the field as fast as possible to give them a rest. Not stopping 3rd and long or 4th downs (or fake punts) keeps the D on the field longer tiring them out. MSU's success in the running game kept the defense on the field for long periods. Offense did make their fair share of mistakes in this game and made the game tougher for the defense.

 

[Devo182]

Yes, but also it’s important to remember that the defense scored two touchdowns today. Nonetheless, the defense has problems. Numerous problems.

Giving up a net 20 pts to a 40 ppg offense, on their home field, not too shabby. A 6.75 YPP offense held to just 4.4 YPP.

 

[Devo182]

I don't know about "hitting them in the mouth"..I feel lucky they won.

Then you missed how many sacks and TFLs we had. Those big defensive, "table turning" plays were critical. I remember one drive we hit the QB so well that he came out on 2nd down with the worst throw of the day and then another whiff on 3rd down.

We really did lay some hard hits on em today. So many times we were throwing them backwards behind the line. Just need more consistency, which will come from getting healthy.